Abstract

During the search for antidiabetic agents from natural sources, four biflavonoids including amentoflavone (1), robustaflavone (2), cupressuflavone (3), and 3,8′′-biapogenin (4) have been isolated and structurally elucidated from the methanol extract of a Vietnamese medicinal plant Selaginella tamariscina by using combined chromatographic and spectroscopic experiments. All isolated compounds showed significant stimulatory effects on 2-NBDG glucose uptake in 3T3-L1 adipocyte cells. At a concentration of 10 μM, compounds 3 and 4 exhibited potential stimulatory effects by 1.47 and 1.44 fold of inductions as compared with the control (DMSO), respectively. In this assay, the positive control (insulin) showed an induction of 1.54 fold at a concentration of 100 nM. The result suggests that these biflavonoids maybe potential as insulin mimetics for developing antidiabetic agents.